Odisha's 5T Program Spurs Surge in Government School Enrolment

HYDERABAD: In 2021, when the Odisha government introduced its 5T (teamwork, transparency, technology, time and transformation) promise to over 8,000 state-run schools, there was skepticism among teachers. But the shift of enrolment from private schools to government schools is evidence of its efficacy

Lady Lewis Girls High School in Sambalpur witnessed a 50 per cent increase in enrolment in two years. School headmistress, Kamalini Acharya, attributes this surge to the swift execution and clear future plans under the 5T programme.

"A budget increase of 55 per cent from 2018-19 to 2023-24, amounting to Rs 1,268 crore is testament to the government's commitment," the teacher said.

Aswathy S, commissioner-secretary, school and mass education department, speaking to the media,  pointed to a 1.5 per cent increase in enrolment for Class 1 to 12 since 2021.

Asked if she knew of any student who had left a private institution to join a government school, Jyotirmayee Mishra, headmistress of Puri Zilla School, said with a smile: "My son."

Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan had said that Odisha had a drop-out rate of 49.9 per cent, the highest. against a national rate of 20.6 per cent for Class 10 in 2021-22.

Odisha's school minister Sudam Marndi contested the figure and wrote to the Central government.

"The calculation based on Unified District Information System for Education (UDISE) data is inaccurate, as it excluded information on 1.4 lakh students in technical, vocational, open and distance courses. Second, the method of comparing Class 11 admissions with the previous year's Class 10 does not consider students pursuing alternative courses after Class 10," Aswathy told Deccan Chronicle.

She added that using updated UDISE data would bring Odisha's dropout rate down to 20 per cent, and including the 1.4 lakh students in various courses would reduce it to 15.

The Odisha government plans to integrate AI into the curriculum at its 8,800 well-equipped high schools, A knowledge team is working with organisations like Intel and Nasscom to develop the curriculum, 5T chairman V.K. Pandian told DC.

The government has hired 4,166 teachers to ensure that not no class is missed.

Aswathy said the next phase would be middle and primary schools, with focus beyond infrastructural development.

"High school shows the highest impact, which is also what countries like China are doing," she explained. Pandian and Aswathy said that they will work around the hiccups of electricity disruptions to a fragment of schools in remote areas of the state and issues with schools that get their mid-day meals from Akshaya Patra missing out on eggs.